The life of a battery is a function of how the battery is used. As battery capacity is diminished, the discharge time gets shorter. Normal batteries provide no information to the user regarding this natural process, and so it becomes difficult for users to know when it is time to replace a battery.
Battery gas gauges are devices that are used to create “smart” batteries that are able to give the user more information regarding the useful capacity of a battery as well as the overall state of health of the battery.
Battery gas gauges provide accurate information on useful capacity and the state of health of a battery when the real-world use case conforms to the battery gas gauge's specific use case firmware design. Understandably, though, real-world use cases do not always conform to these idealized designs. As a results, the state of health and useful capacity information for a battery as reported by the battery gas gauge can become inaccurate as the device, battery, and battery gas gauge are increasingly used in real-world situations.
Therefore, a need exists for a battery gas gauge that tracks discharge and charge events to report the actual, real-world capacity of a battery. This information can be used to provide recommendations on replacement of the battery, and it can also provide workflow improvement information.